MP Mporanyi’s Genocide case referred to ordinary courts

HUYE - The Ngoma Sector Gacaca court has referred the case of MP Theobald Mporanyi, accused of Genocide at the National University of Rwanda to conventional courts. Delivering its final verdict yesterday, the court ruled that Mporanyi’s case falls under the first category of Genocide crimes and will consequently be tried by ordinary courts. The legislator was charged on three counts that include; torturing Tutsi students at the National University of Rwanda during the period leading to the Genocide and inciting people to kill through a radio announcement aired on the National radio. He denied all charges. During the trial that began on November 3, different witnesses pinned Mporanyi for his alleged role in the 1994 Genocide at the university where he was a student in the Faculty of Public Health. Clad in a grey suit, blue shirt and red tie, Mporanyi appeared unmoved by the ruling, he declined to talk to the press shortly after. The trial of the embattled legislator follows an information gathering process to unearth the perpetrators of Genocide at the university in which over 400 students and staff perished. Over 45 people, some of whom already serving jail terms, are expected to appear before the Gacaca court. On Thursday, the same court cleared Jean Pierre Hakizayezu, the Mayor of Gakenke district in the Northern province of his alleged role in Genocide at the university- where he was a final year student in 1994. Ends